My Roadiaries Blog

Leh Trip – Day 1

We had booked our trip through Yatra for 4 passengers with my husband and in laws. The package was taken from Delhi. We currently stay at Pune. We took an evening flight to Delhi and reached Delhi.

We checked in to the hotel near to the airport. We had early morning flight to Leh, through GoAir. Very few flights fly to Leh.

Leh Flight

Day 1
Our flight was at 6:45 AM and we reached Leh by 8 AM. Hand baggage is not allowed in Leh flights. Since it was a package tour, our driver was already waiting for us with our name plate. The Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport is really small with high alert security. It is one of the highest commercial airport located at 3256m above sea level. And yes, due to mountain winds in the afternoon, most of the aircraft fly during the morning. It was an experience to see the airport. Smallest and cutest airport ever seen.

Leh Airport

We were out from the airport after collecting the luggage and there were many drivers from yatra holding our name boards.

We were driven to the hotel “3 Roses” by the cab driver and were told to rest for the day. Since leh is at 18000 ft altitude, Travelers are suggested to rest for the day to get accustomed to the weather. We checked in our hotel and took rest. 2 Rooms were booked in our names, and our room had lovely snow capped mountain view.

Hotel 3 Roses

3 Roses had WiFi but the connection kept breaking on and off. We were given one bottle of water each and also on request everyone was given hot water in thermos.

In the evening, we were taken to the Shanti Stupa which was our first point of attraction. Shanti Stupa is a buddhist temple located on Chanspa hill in Leh. It was built in 1991 to promote world peace. From here, one can get panoramic view of mountains from all sides. I was mesmerized to see various shades of brown mountains. One can climb 500 steps and reach the place. Winds were blowing strongly. Even climbing few stairs could make us feel short of breath. We clicked few pics. Wearing clothes in layers really helped us.

Shanti Stupa

Lord Buddha Statue at Shanti Stupa

Lord Buddha Statue at Shanti Stupa

Leh View From Shanti Stupa

The driver gave us 2 options, either he could leave us at the hotel or at the market. I really wanted to see the markets. We went to the market since it was not dark yet. There were many shops selling sweaters, and Kashmiri suits, and jackets and dry fruits. Whenever i visit any place, i love exploring the markets. Everything was reasonable enough. We did not buy much, just had a look. I was curious if apples are cheap. But, they were same rate like here in Pune. But we got to see tiny apples, and they were sweet too. We purchased some half kg for taste. We took a return cab to our hotel at a price of INR100 and returned for dinner.

Leh local market

Juice Stall in Leh

Dinner served was good, with sabji, roti, rice, daal and sweets. The food was tasty and hot. Weather was also cold but not very chilly.
We spoke back home, that we reached safely, got range for vodafone, none of us had bsnl though. We retired to bed early by 10 PM. It was a long day.